Chapter 14-Crossing Paths
Thanksgiving-Walsh Home
"Hello" Olivia said as the car pulled up in front of her father's house.
"Did you just get there?" Harvey said looking out the window.
"Sitting outside" Olivia said.
"Smile nod, get it over with spend time with your sister" Harvey said.
"If it was that easy I wish my aunt was able to fly in but she hates Athena as much as I do," Olivia said.
"Good luck give me updates" Harvey said.
"Bye" Olivia said hanging up her cell phone; she takes a deep breath as the driver opened the door for her.
"I thought that was you" 16 year old Allie yelled running to Olivia.
"Hi" Olivia said smiling naturally as she saw her father come out.
"There she is" Thomas Walsh said giving his daughter a hug.
"I beat traffic," Olivia said as Thomas helped her.
"I was expecting models to come out of the car," Thomas said as they walked inside, Olivia saw her stepmother Athena looking out the window {they exchange glances}.
"I made two things Baked Mashed Potatoes, with Pancetta, Parmesan Cheese, and Breadcrumbs for dinner. Before that I made mom's fried ravioli appetizer" Olivia said.
"Made my stomach growl more and I have a surprise for you" Thomas said as they entered the house, Olivia sets the platters down.
"Aunt Tula!" Olivia said happily.
"I fooled ya" Tula said giving her niece a hug.
"You look like your mother everyday" she said getting a better look at Olivia.
"Thomas remember when Lucia wore her hair like this, of course I used to be jealous of it being the younger sister and all" Tula said, Olivia let out a chuckle seeing her cousins.
"Hi Vinnie and Charlie" Olivia said.
"Long time cuz" the young men said.
"Happy Thanksgiving Athena" Olivia said forcing a smile as Tula raised her eyebrow.
"Happy Thanksgiving Olivia, you're on time this year" Athena said.
"Yep work kept me busy last year thank goodness there were no major shows this season. I had a lot of time the past few days, you have that a lot I envy that" Olivia said walking away.
"Bitch" she said to herself.
"Harvey this is your mother, I wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, Jeff is here. You will have to speak to me one of these days." Harvey listed to the voicemail his mother put on his phone.
"Happy Turkey day" Harvey said taking a sip of his coffee he looked around his apartment and sighed.
"Wonder how Liv is doing" he thought missing her. He shook his head, last Thanksgiving he was with a waitress, Tara or Nicki, he thought. Holiday's were usually another day but this time it was different.
"You mastered Lucia's recipe" Tula said.
"A very unique choice for Thanksgiving dinner very Italian" Athena said as Allie shook her head.
"Brings back a lot of memories, I remember watching you and your mother cook this during Christmas Eve" Thomas said.
"I guess that is a hint I should do it again" Olivia said.
"If you want" Thomas said smiling.
"I knew you would like it" Olivia said helping clear the table, Athena follows her.
"I can put that in the dishwasher" she said as Athena started to clean up.
"I'll manage" Athena said.
"Fine" Olivia said both their backs were turned.
Athena turns around, "Next time can you let me know what you are bringing" she said.
Olivia looked at her surprised, "Excuse me? I just decided what to make last night after working a 15 hour day" she said.
"You're mother's recipe" Athena said.
"Get over it, we're not doing this today" Olivia said as Tula entered.
"Everything good in here" Tula said.
"Dandy" Olivia said hearing her phone ring.
"You have great timing" she said recognizing Harvey's number.
"What happened?" Harvey asked.
"Evil step-mom being insecure about something I made, I actually held back and didn't make what I wanted. Whatever she'll deal dad liked it since it was something mom made" Olivia said.
"I see" Harvey said.
"What are you doing?" Olivia asked.
"Watching the game" Harvey said.
"You are not going out?" Olivia asked.
"To who you know about Jeff and mom. Mike did offer but he's going to Rachel's house. I rather not see Robert Zane right now. I'm good" Harvey said.
Olivia frowned. "I wish you would have told me" she said.
"It's ok Liv, I wanted to help you prep for today, and I'm ok. Talking to you it more than enough" Harvey said.
"You shouldn't be alone during the holiday" Olivia said.
"I'm good go back to your family, no catfight" Harvey said.
"Bye" Olivia said she turned around to see her sister standing there.
"Was that your boyfriend, the guy in the newspaper. Dad said he knew him as a teenager" Allie said.
"Yes, shh" Olivia said as they walked back to the living room.
3 hours later
"Don't forget the mash potatoes, Athena must have forgotten to take them out" Tula said she gave Olivia a wink.
"I'm dying to try those, you got Lucia's gift for cooking" Thomas said taking the platter.
"I'm so stuffed, I can't believe it's only 4" Olivia said laughing.
"We should go to a Knicks game soon" Vinnie said to Olivia.
"Definitely" Olivia said feeling her phone vibrate she saw it was from Harvey.
"I'm surprised you didn't bring Specter along" Thomas said.
"Huh" Olivia said.
"We saw page 6" Thomas said.
"Would have been nice to know you would be in there" Athena said.
"I didn't know" Olivia said turning back to her father.
"He's busy" she said, Thomas nodded.
"Maybe next time" Thomas said as they continued to eat.
"We need to do this more often" he said looking up at Olivia.
"That would be nice" Olivia said.
"Hello" Harvey said not recognizing the number.
"Good you are not dead" Jeff Specter said.
"Nice trick to call on another line" Harvey said.
"Can you answer any of mom's phone calls" Jeff said.
"For what" Harvey said.
"She's your mother!" Jeff said.
"Who last year didn't want nothing to do with me, just my bank account" Harvey said.
"She's trying to change" Jeff said.
"Still naïve" Harvey said.
"You can't talk to me or mom but you talk to other people in the neighborhood. I saw page 6, I knew you always had a thing for Olivia. I guess you two only talk to people who are making over $200k" Jeff said.
"Ok we're done" Harvey said hanging up.
"So you wanted to talk" Olivia said walking into her father's den.
"Sit" Thomas said.
"The mugging" he said raising his eyebrow.
"I should have called you, I'm sorry" Olivia said.
"Yes but I shouldn't have reacted the way I did especially the day I did it. I was nervous that you wouldn't even show up today" Thomas said.
"I'll be honest, I wasn't until I thought about the past Thanksgiving with mom and then I remembered the things she made. If I made them and just ate them on my own without you there it wouldn't feel right especially today" Olivia said.
"We need to work on communicating better dad and not being angry, that incident happened months ago, none of us wanted to pick of the phone after that" she said tearing up.
"My girl" Thomas said giving Olivia a hug.
"I love you and I am proud of the life you made for yourself" He whispered.
"Ok let's get back to the party" Olivia said as they walked back to the living room seeing everyone get desert, she smiled then looked over at her phone.
"You have been looking at that phone constantly, why didn't you bring Harvey, that's his name right" Tula said.
"I thought he would be busy, he's not, he's actually alone in his apartment" Olivia said.
"Things are dying here it's not too late" Tula said.
"Hi this is Olivia Walsh, yes the food fashion blogger can you deliver the following ingredients to my apartment in the next hour, my doorman will let you up. Ok: cranberry sauce, 9-pound turkey yes that's what I said, creamed spinach, elbow macaroni, grated sharp Cheddar cheese, milk and eggs" she said.
She turns around, "Time to say my goodbyes" she said as Tula touched her shoulder.
3 hours later
"Guess she is ok" Harvey thought looking at the time 8pm his phone rings.
"Hey" Olivia said.
"How's is it now" Harvey said.
"I left" Olivia said.
"What happened?" Harvey said concerned.
"No nothing, it was good, can you get a cab over here right now bring change of clothes" Olivia said.
"You're home?" Harvey said.
"Yea, you'll see when you get here" Olivia said happily.
"What are you up to" Harvey said.
"Just get here" Olivia said hanging up.
Harvey chuckled shaking his head as he put his shoes on.
30 minutes later
"Happy Thanksgiving" Olivia said giving Harvey a huge hug {he puts his bag on the floor}.
"Gobble Gobble" Harvey said he smelled food, Olivia takes his hand.
"You for the past week have been listening to me vent about my family and gave me advice on how to deal. IT helped a lot today. I wanted to return the favor" She said as they walked to the living room.
"Whoa" Harvey said seeing a candlelight dinner on the coffee table.
"Turkey, cranberry sauce, creamed spinach, I had some of my mash potatoes left thank goodness." Olivia said trying to read Harvey's reaction.
Harvey looked at the table and looked at Olivia he was speeches. "You did this for me" Harvey said.
"Yes" Olivia said looking into his eyes, he shakes his head.
"Last year I was with someone I don't even remember her name, usually the holiday's are just another day. Today for some reason it was different, I wanted to see you" Harvey said.
"Last year Athena and I got into an argument, I stormed out and got drunk with the staff at a party in LES. I figured {she shakes her head} they don't care, they are beneath me anyway and they think I think I'm beneath them so this is what it's supposed to be" Olivia said.
"Jeff said something like that to me today" Harvey said.
"What" Olivia said.
"About us, they don't get it, we both worked our way up" Harvey said quietly.
"I'm tired of trying to prove that either they do or don't. We get each other" Olivia said as Harvey put his arms around her kissing her passionately.
They break the kiss with their heads touching, "So much for keeping it casual" Harvey joked, Olivia laughed.
"I didn't want you to be alone and I wanted to be with you" Olivia said.
"It will be a real Thanksgiving dinner, we will have to sit Indian style" she said as they walked to the coffee table.
Harvey laughed taking the bottle of wine from the table, "Fine by me" he said.